User Ratings & Reviews

Pours a slightly hazy brownish-amber color with a half-finger cream-colored head. The head recedes into a thin layer on top leaving light lacing.

Smells of huge amounts of anise backed by mild amounts of mint. Also present are mild amounts of smooth caramel malts.

Tastes similar to how it smells, but a bit more muddled. Light caramel malt flavors kick things off and are joined quickly by herbal hops and slightly phenolic mint flavors. The large amounts of anise found in the aroma show up shortly thereafter, carrying through to a mildly bitter ending. As the beer warms it gains a strange kind of tartness as well that doesn't mesh with the rest of the flavor profile.

Mouthfeel is good. It's got a nice thickness with smooth carbonation.

Drinkability is not so great. I had a tough time finishing my glass without a problem however I'm not sure about another.

Overall I thought this was an interesting beer but the anise was overpowering to me and the strange sourness didn't meld with the rest of what was happening. Worth a shot for curiousity's sake but not worth seeking out.

Pours a ruby brown with a thin, tan head. Somewhat thin lacing around the glass.

The nose is pleasant. Nice spice. Smells like everything you would want winter to be. Like a kitchen around Christmas. One would believe good things are to come with aromas like this. One would be wrong.

The spices that once enticed the nose are now mangled together like limbless bodies in a drunken stupor. Doesn't make sense, right? Exactly. This beer reminds me of clove candy canes from Cracker Barrel. Loads of licorice, peppermint, and cinnamon. It's like a twelve ounce Jager bomb.

The body of the beer is pretty middle of the road. Good carbonation, but it is so hard to get past the flavors of this beer.

I was going to make this my last beer of the night. I couldn't finish it and ended up ordering a Pannepot just to cleanse my palate.

I like a lot from Short's so I suppose everyone is entitled to a miss now and then.

Pours an opaque mahogany with a very small beige head that doesn't stick around long and leaves no lacing.

Aroma surprised me a bit as I just wasn't expecting so much peppermint. It's the dominant aroma with hints of other spices like nutmeg and ginger. Not much in the way of malts though maybe a bit of fruits

The taste is just more of the same. The peppermint mixes with the sweet fruits, which are more prevalent than in the aroma. Unfortunately, the finish is not good and leaves a nasty aftertaste, minty and metallic.

The mouthfeel is light to medium bodied and crazy spicy, just an onslaught on the palate.

I don't mind spiced beer, but this one is far too much for my liking. The sweetness is completely overpowered by the spices, with the peppermint leaving an especially rough aftertaste. Definitely not my favorite from Shorts though they certainly have some creativity.

I had this on tap and drank from a pint glass. The appearance is enticing, a woodsy brown with ruby red outlining and a solid medium head. This constituted the highlight of the beer for me. Nothing was taken away in the aroma, which was fruity, sweet and chopped full of spice.

But what was a promising beginning was lost when a ginger/spice bomb exploded in my mouth. While I understand the purpose of the style and what winter warmers are about, this particular beer went a bit off the deep end for me. Given the heavy malt bill, adding fruit and then an extraneous amount of spice, there were very sweet and very bold flavors that ran amuck. All those sweet fruity notes up front finish in a sharp, spicy ginger tang.

The body was medium, with decent carbonation and warm alcohol presence. The drinkability was nil.

Wow, we had this one at the Anniversary party and this was a sipper for sure. Joe threw the kitchen sink (er, spice chest) at this one, as it is described as being brewed with honey, molasses, cardamom, star anise, vanilla bean, turmeric, clove juniper berry, allspice, orange zest, elderberry and pomegranate.

Very dark, and very spicy, this reminded me of a Christmas spiced ale. Lots of flavors and full mouthfeel. Not a session beer by any means, but definitely a good sipper by the fire.

A- Deep ruby red in color with a finger of off-white head. A bit of lacing, pretty good head retention.

S- Wow! Tons of spicy characteristics in this one. Peppermint, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger. I don't really know my spices to well but I believe all of those were present. It's seriously like dipping your head in a bucket full of spices. This may not appeal to some people, but I definitely liked it.

T- Once again, all of the spices present in the sroma show up here. The peppermint was definitely more pronounced in the smell, whereas the nutmeg and cinnamon seem to show up in the taste more. Spices were a little over the top for the taste. Reminds me of a spiced tea.

M- Medium, syrup like body (not in a bad way). Not much carbonation.

D- The spices did get to me a little bit in the end, so that detracted a bit from the drinkability. This is definitely the spiciest beer I've ever had and was easily the highlight of the night.